This company is in effect a monopoly, and as such they make money regardless of the decisions they make as a business. this means, that you'll be often tasked to work on projects that may not be profitable or beneficial in any way, just because some exec thought it would be cool. The problem is, they want you to work on this project in addition to your other duties, and there is seldom additional resources assigned, except marketing. When it folds, the execs are not held accountable, and move on to their next debacle.
As a result of this trial and error attitude, there may be a shortfall in profits at the end of the year. They still make tons of money, but it misses their expectations, and subsequently, the employees will get shafted with no bonus and no raises. The execs will still enjoy their bonuses regardless. Needless to say, the executives live on very fat salaries and bonuses, and the employees that are working long and unsocial hours are paid below the average for this industry.
The management can function in this manner, and do so because they know that people will line up to work at MLB. They hire many staff as seasonal employees, avoiding paying them benefits and avoiding paying the city and state the social security they owe. It's a loophole that should be addressed by the powers that be.
Considering this is a cash cow, and is cash rich, MLB purposely pays it's vendors late, regardless of who they are. They also believe that companies will climb over each other to supply MLB. I'm sure many small companies have gone under because of the routine 120 day late payments that MLB follow. Bigger companies are learning, and now are not providing discounts for volume and repeat business. The finance department is particularly badly managed. Its only a matter of time before the IRS audits them and blows the lid off their illicit practices.
What this means to the average employee is that regardless of how hard you work on something, there is always going to be some excuse for you not moving forward, career wise or financially, and unless you read this pattern early, you may get sucked into the mentality that the payoff is just around the corner, after the next big project. That's what you're management will tell you.
The annual reviews are a joke. As a manager, you're expected to complete a bunch of formal reviews with your employees and hand them in to your manager and then on to HR by a certain time. I never saw the reviews actually make a difference to any employees career growth. Instead, the promotions come from an unwritten rule book, that end up damaging morale. When things don't work out, there's swift terminations, and silence money. The people left behind never ever hear what happens, and put their heads down and continue.
